G06 Subterranian

Issues and examples to consider:

Large-scale structures:

  • Mines
  • Aquifers
  • Canalisation/sewerage systems
  • Systems under the ground but also under the sea
  • Cables

For a decent consideration of architectural issues, not including the nonhuman aspects properly, see this student work:

Wright, Aimee. ‘Underground Architecture: Connections Between Ground-Level Public Space and Below-Ground Buildings’. Master Thesis, Victoria University of Wellington, 2012.

Key Types

By type of medium:

  • subterranean
  • underwater
  • under the seabed

By time/period of habitation:

  • opportunistic/occasional
  • temporary
  • long-term
  • permanent

By mode of production:

  • naturally formed: caves, underground rivers
  • artificially constructed: excavated, covered

Nonhuman

On subterranean biology, see:

Mammola, Stefano, Isabel R. Amorim, Maria E. Bichuette, Paulo A. V. Borges, Naowarat Cheeptham, Steven J. B. Cooper, David C. Culver, et al. “Fundamental Research Questions in Subterranean Biology.” Biological Reviews 95, no. 6 (2020): 1855–72. https://doi.org/10/gkkv26.

  • worms
  • bacteria
  • fungi
  • roots of plants
  • small mammals

In the water there is much more abundance as more species and biomass exist in the water:

  • fish
  • plants
  • other marine and riverine life
  • plankton
  • large mammals

Human

Subsurface Engineering

Issues:

  • costs
  • effort and resources required
  • available technologies and methods including the use of machinery and robotics

Subsurface:

Using earth and water as building materials (possible extension of the concept):

  • earth architecture
  • ice and snow as building materials

References

An overview of human cultural relationships with the underground world including it formation and implications for nonhuman lives:

Macfarlane, Robert. Underland: A Deep Time Journey. New York: W. W. Norton, 2019.

Example of current issues in urban subterranean spaces:

Garrett, Bradley, Maria de Lourdes Melo Zurita, and Kurt Iveson. ‘Boring Cities: The Privatisation of Subterranea’. City 24, no. 1–2 (2020): 276–85. https://doi.org/10/gpr4gd.

On regulatory issues:

Goldhill, Simon, and Georgie Fitzgibbon. ‘Climate Policy, Regulation and Governance: Introduction’. Journal of the British Academy 9s10 (2021): 1–5. https://doi.org/10/gpr4hm.

Psychology (see the Biosphere 2 types of experiments) Social and political problems